Wednesday, November 01, 2006

4am Saturday morning + trip highlights

So I was driving my husband to the airport (he was home for less than 2 days before he had to go somewhere) at 4am and looked up and saw lava on Mt Etna, Sicily's lovely volcano. Nighttime is about the only time its noticable. Its erupting at the top and on the side. Its probably the only time we spoke to each other the entire drive. Not much to talk about that early in the morning. I dropped him off and Cale said "Where's Daddy going?" This is his favorite new question. SO I said Daddy's going to work. Cale is never fooled easily. He said, "Different work?"This was the exact moment that I knew I didn't want him to re-enlist. How do I explain to a 2 year old that his Daddy has to go to school for a week in another country? That's really hard. But explaining 6 months? It will be even sadder when he stops asking. I write this and I say this, but I know what his decision will be.

We got home a week ago. Our trip was completely exhausting, in every sense of the word. We experienced no jet lag on the way there, but it has taken a week and a half to recuperate. We spent a few days in Spain trying to get back so we've been on this time for that long. I wish I could say we had a blast but there were more bad times than good times. So here's a few of the highlights.*Seeing my new baby nephew, Trinton*Seeing dolphins dance*A lovely day spent on a deserted Pensacola beach. Cale and I went for long walks and collected seashells. *Shopping. I miss you Target. And Joann's Superstore. *Bought Sew U and have tons of inspiration for these 3 simple patterns.*Spending time with my best friend who keeps me giggling for hours*Being told constantly how good Cale is. *Eating lots of good food.*Going to really nice grocery stores. *Fun beverages: Izzy juice, cheerwine soda, and pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks*Making funny statements to Cale like "you've never been in a place like this" and I was talking about a convenient store or a target or an eckerds.*Thrift Store City. My fave store in Norfolk still rocks. I can't even tell you how many awesome finds I found.*Flea markets and thrift stores in general. So much awesome dishware, so little space to bring it back. I did buy too little pieces of Pyrex for a steal though!

So it wasn't all bad. I'm glad its over and so glad to be home. Cale's having a hard time adjusting to these 'naps' that I'm making him take again. He keeps trying to trick me. "Its not dark outside." "I wanna take a bath first." Today it got even better, "I'm going to tell everybody that you keep making me take naps when its not even dark outside." Kind of a long sentence for him and I'm sure he left words out, but that was the jist of it. But at least he's taking baths again.

Okay- I have to apologize cause I didn't read your other pics. You are in Sicily- Marinai housing? I lived there from 2000-03. Yes-Navy. We lived on the side of the volcano in Trecastagni for 2 yrs. till our house started falling apart after a quake & we didn't find out till later. We lived in Marinai for the last year. I cry sometimes thinking of Sicily. Weird I know but my whole family really did love it there. Are you still there. I have a few friends there still. Glad to see there is someone else out there too who loves mint chocolate & pumpkin everything. Take care- Lulu